5th graders in Mr. Robinson’s and Mrs. Greene’s classes created these colorful and whimsical animal sculptures after studying a classic form of folk art from Oaxaca, Mexico. They drew a detailed plan of their animal first, then created armatures from newspaper and lots of tape. The bodies were then covered in plaster, and painted with acrylic paint.
History of Alibrijes, from Wikipedia:
Alebrijes (Spanish pronunciation: [aleˈβɾixes]) are brightly colored Oaxacan–Mexican folk art sculptures of fantastical creatures. The first alebrijes, along with use of the term, originated with Pedro Linares. In the 1930s, Linares fell very ill and while he was in bed, unconscious, Linares dreamt of a strange place resembling a forest. There, he saw trees, animals, rocks, clouds that suddenly turned into something strange, some kind of animals, but, unknown animals. He saw a donkey with butterfly wings, a rooster with bull horns, a lion with an eagle head, and all of them were shouting one word, “Alebrijes”. Upon recovery, he began recreating the creatures he saw in cardboard and paper mache and called them Alebrijes.